


Blood doesn’t mean perfection

by purplefox



Series: Dance with me [8]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dance, Dancing, F/M, Ficlet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-20
Updated: 2016-12-20
Packaged: 2018-09-10 17:43:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8926381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/purplefox/pseuds/purplefox
Summary: Neji's had everyone tell him he was the best all his life because of where he came from, that he was beyond the others but he sees that he is missing something, something he can't get by himself.





	

He’s had many instructors, many trainers many partners as well but it was when he had given up on this ridiculous school giving him the feeling and freedom that he knew existed; it was then that he had met her.

He had never been moved by other’s displays. He had looked at what others called touching displays and he had seen the flaws. It was what he had been raised to do. He had not been able to find the emotion others found, he had just seen the rigid rules and had strived because it was expected of him. Because that was what he was there to do, he had a legacy to live up to. Shadows ahead of him that he could not disappoint.

The only thing he had felt in the beginning on success was relief. Then he had seen her display. Neji had known she was in the same class as him. He knew her name as well but he had been treated differently to her. His lineage reason enough for more attention to be payed to him.

But at her showcase, he had not even meant to be there, he had wandered into her practise by accident. The music had made him pause, but her dancing. The grace and emotion in her movements. When she had finished, her body on the floor her head staring at the ceiling Neji had not known what to do. He had not known that tears had escaped him until he felt them drip down to his hands.

Tenten’s emotions had reached him, he had felt while watching her. After that display… after he had been touched by that how could he not seek her out to watch again? Make certain the first time was not a fluke and again… and again.

Until his free time was filled with watching her routines, evaluating them, comparing them. There were flaws obviously but the emotions in her dancing made it impossible to look away. The story her body told brought you into the story.

People had told him before that his movements touched them. That his elegance was otherworldly and that they had felt something when they saw his dance. That they enjoyed it, he had thanked them because that was what he was supposed to do. Felt satisfied because that was what he was supposed to do but Tenten had opened his eyes.

What he had felt… it was in his body, in his soul and it unlocked a craving inside him. A craving he wondered whether he would be able to feed it in a place like their school. His showcases left him empty, he understood that. He was unhappy dancing he understood that, he was envious of Tenten. He recognized that and he would have fumbled along if she had not caught him watching a day.

The hand she had extended to him and the patient smile. She had saved him.

X

Tenten helped him bring out his emotions. He got complimented for it praised for it. Almost worshiped for it but Tenten was ignored mostly. Denied for his partner. That the others, that Danzo could not see how amazing and raw she was. That the man could not understand what she would bring to the dance infuriated him.

That Tenten accepted it, that she decided to settle for the smaller showcases with the less influenceable sponsors made him angry. So angry that for the first time since he had begun he turned his back on what they wanted and did what he wanted.

He choreographed it. He had been labelled genius by those older and supposedly wiser than him. He had scripted the story and told Tenten his plan after a practise session. She had lowered her water bottle and looked at him carefully. Silence had fallen between them and dread had crept over him before she had smiled and agreed.

“I hope you know what you’re getting into.” She had smiled before she had ruffled his hair dislodging it from the bun he had it in. He had rolled his eyes, smiled through his nerves before he ruffled hers back in retaliation.

X

The showcase itself went off without a hitch. He had put into dance what she meant to him, what she was to him and what she had given to him. The dance he had watched her perform that time was about sacrifice and it had brought tears to his eyes.

The dance he dedicated to her… the way he wanted the world to see her. Tenten was his saviour… his angel. He allowed a smile to creep onto his lips as his hands rested on her hips as he knelt at her feet. Not everything had been perfect, the slide he had done to get to the position would take its toll but Tenten’s smile as she held her pose… as around them the audience cheered, clapped and roared their approval. It was exactly what he had wanted.


End file.
